Children's Writer, Editor, and Storyteller

New York Alive

Last week I mentioned in an email to a friend that New York looked (among other adjectives) ‘alive’. She asked whatNew York alivelooked like. Which is one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked. The answer came to me in a film strip of images.

I thought it would be fun to look for and capture New York alive which can be interpreted in many ways. I thought it might help me be a better see-er which will make me a better writer. I thought it might be fun to place my findings here whenever I feel like it.

So that’s my upfront. This is what I’m finding.

What does your home, your city, your town look like alive?

These. Because the shoes are birds.

This. Because there’s wonder in a fallen tree. We run our fingers across the rings. We measure growth.

I love this idea. I would have such a blast doing Philly alive, though I'd want to post short videos–of the drum circle in Clark Park, of the skateboarders doing tricks by the waterfront, of the kids riding the goat sculpture in Rittenhouse Square, of diners spilled onto the sidewalks in Manayunk's cafes. Rowers on the Schuylkill river, joggers doing their best Rocky impression on the art museum steps. Though I grew up rural, I'm definitely an “urban life convert”!

What an inspiring question! It's alive with the people standing in the “center of the universe” (as it's called downtown) shouting or singing or spinning. It's alive in the bands that play along the river as you walk. It's alive in the age-old garden of our eldest museum.